Avishai Cohen Quintet at Vienne Jazz Festival

Contemporary jazz takes center stage at the Jazz à Vienne festival with a powerful performance by the acclaimed double bassist and composer Avishai Cohen. Distilling more than three decades of live touring and creative recording projects, Cohen delivers a seamless, captivating set inside the ancient Roman theatre of Vienne. Backed by a stellar quintet featuring the remarkable young pianist Itay Simovitch, the ensemble performs with an effortless, tight-knit cohesion where each piece flows beautifully into the next. Drawing inspiration from global musical influences and his own Sephardic roots, Cohen demonstrates the keen eye for talent that famously defined his early work alongside legends like Chick Corea and Shai Maestro. The performance reaches its peak with Yuval Drabkin’s stunning, improvised soprano saxophone solo, utilizing the incredible natural acoustics of the historic venue to stretch time and space with an exceptionally moving final melody.